The System We Live In
by AhmadX
Summary: 12 year old Naruto races to the village to warn it of an incoming danger, but the System that governs the daily life has no place for the cries of a young boy. Tough consequences arise & Naruto's faith and nindo are severely challenged. How would Naruto cope in an alternate timeline where people see him as an even bigger problem and he has almost no support because of the system?
1. Chapter 1

_I have to run faster!_  
"huff...huff...huff"  
He had been running for over a day now beyond his top speed, leaping from tree to tree wherever a tree line came. But he knew he could not stop, he knew he had to go even faster. His lungs were aching by now, his chest was on fire, his limb muscles were swollen and throbbing to signal their tiredness and he was aware; only he knew he could not stop. Even his ninja mind, which was used to staying awake and active for long hours, was tired and painful now but he knew he just could not stop.

For he knew he didn't have much time. He had to make it back to the village in time. He had to report to the Hokage. He had to tell him that the end of the village is coming.

"huff...hufff...huff... Just a few more... hours now."

 _Sensei, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you and my friends back there. Why did you have to make me be the one to go and report to the village? I wanted to stay and fight. I know I could have. I'm not as strong as you or Sasuke but I know I could have made a difference. Just because they said so, you didn't have to send me back! And what about Sakura!? Why couldn't you have sent her!?_  
"Dammit Dammit Dammit! " he coughed between spits coming out his mouth.

Finally the village came into view. And he sped towards it, exerting the last remaining strength he had to reach the gates where the Guardsmen were stationed.

"What do you want brat? Why are you alone? Why aren't Kakashi senpai and the rest of the team with you? Are you abandoning your mission?", One of the guards bombarded him with questions before the boy even had time to catch his breath.  
" I have to… report to…. the Hokage! Please! The whole village depends on it….. Please!" he cried in reply.  
"Lord Hokage does not see useless brats, especially if they haven't completed their mission." said the other guard, " so you go right back to your mission and come back when you've done the completion report"

 _Why am i wasting time here_? thinking that and knowing that the guards would be of no help, he took advantage of the size of his twelve year old body and sped past between them.

"Hey!" cried one of the guards as he gave chase, but the boy was well versed in the art of tackling village guards. He shook off the guard and quietly made his way towards the Hokage toeing, and silently he entered and, using a ventilation shaft that could not possible fit an adult's body, he made his way to the Hokage's office.

"Come down from there Naruto-kun, I know you are there." said a cold voice, "I've known ever since you stepped into the mansion"  
Naruto obeyed and jumped down from the shaft.  
The Hokage was seated on his chair turned away from the boy, looking out of the windows into the distance. Then he turned his chair towards the boy and his cold face gave Naruto chills, like it always did whenever he saw him.  
"Though I am surprised you know the ventilation system so thoroughly to make your way here so quickly. I wonder if Kakashi or some other Jounin had told you. Oh well….What is it you want?"

As was enforced in the Village; whenever in audience with the Hokage, whether the person is ninja or civilian, they had to kneel and then speak. That is what Naruto did and then he spoke, "Lord Orochimaru, something's coming towards the village. Something huge; it was a big machine. Kakashi Sensei and Sasuke and Sakura stayed behind to destroy it but it had strange defenses and they were in alot of trouble. Sensei sent me back here on some man's orders."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, "So your team got ambushed on a mission? I do not recall the mission being of any dangerous nature at all", he said with an unsatisfied look.

"Please, Lord Hokage, you have to do something!", cried Naruto again," everyone is in danger!"

"Silence boy!" said Orochimaru, with a hiss that gave Naruto goosebumps, "I do not have to do anything! How dare you advise me to act? I sent your team on a simple mission, which you could have completed long ago and be back by now, but your sensei clearly had something else in mind and he decided to steer away in some other direction, taking you little kids with him. Now he's in a pinch and is asking for support. I will not send anyone to assist those who defy my instructions!"

"But Lord-", Naruto was about to protest but Orochimaru disappeared, and within an instant, appeared behind him.

"Did I just not tell you to be silent!" Orochimaru spat at him from behind, picked him up by the collar and sent him flying outside the office's window, "Learn your place before coming back".

 _Well that is over with, that boy is really a nuisance. Now then, lets move…..._

* * *

Naruto landed on his back on a shed below the Hokage's office, bounced off it and fell to the ground underneath. He was used to getting beat up but what hurt more was his trust in the Hokage name. He had always thought that no matter what the trouble, the Hokage would always help.  
 _If only the old man Third was still alive…..He would have listened and done something for sure….  
_ "Dammit I don't have time for thinking this," he said as he quickly got up and raced towards the village market; the busiest place in town, "I'm sure someone will listen there."

He got to the market in a few seconds, and climbed on top of a shop. He inhaled as much as he could and then scream at the top of his lungs, "OOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! EVERYONE! YOU HAVE TO BRACE YOURSELVES AND GET READY! THERE"S SOMETHING COMING TOWARDS THE VILLAGE! CIVILIANS GET TO SAFETY AND NINJA BE PREPARED TO FIGHT! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"

He was shouting the same words over and over again to get people to listen and understand the danger. People turned to look, saw who it was, and went back to their business. They all knew the kid, and they all hated him. They never wanted to hear his voice or see his face. And if it weren't for the Sandaime's decree they would surely have gotten up there to pummel his screaming face for making all that noise. Still enough was enough and some people had shorter temper than others…..

Naruto suddenly got hit by a tomato to his face, which sent the red juice spewing down his face. His shouting stopped in shock. Then he got thrown at another vegetable, and a fruit, another fruit and eventually by stones and bricks, some of which hit, others missed him by a few inches. As his shock subsided, he could start to make out the villager's words they were barking at him while throwing things at him.

"Oy you devil boy!" shouted one villager, "Stop your pranks".  
"Oy get out of here!" screamed an elderly, "You're not welcome here, much less your shouting".  
"Oi stop your pranks!" said a young lady, "We're already tired of you and we don't want you around."  
"Yeah, get lost!" "Yeah you little devil!" "Stop spewing lies!"

Naruto was shocked at all their remarks at him, sure he played pranks once in a while but that was just to get attention, to get love, never to hurt anyone. He never thought he was hated so much. He could not understand why they would not listen at all, even when their lives were in so much danger.

"Please you have to-" , Naruto was going to explain what was coming but a sharp rock came straight at hm and hit him on the forehead, sending a stream of blood trickling down across his face, down his neck and into his clothes.

Then more of the sharper rocks came, and to protect himself he put up his arms as a shield.

"PLEASE! Listen to-" He tried to reach out his voice again but it was no use. He just sat there trying again and again to make his voice be heard by all the response he got was curses and rocks.

Then a strange voiced resounded across the whole village, and the sky. Everyone heard it, they stopped targeting the boy to look up where it was coming from. And In a few milliseconds, something dropped at the village gate, immediately turning into a huge green explosion that came speeding towards the market place where all the people stood. Everyone saw in horror as the explosion ate everything up in its path; people, animals, buildings everything. People had no time to reach, they were too deep in shock, and the explosion was on them. It devoured them all and unflinching kept racing on its path.

The explosion continued to spread to a long area and ate everything up, all that was left was rubble.

* * *

Naruto woke up, he did not know how long it had been since he'd been asleep or unconscious or what. But he saw that everything around him was nothing any more. His eyes widened to see that where so many people were cursing him in a hustling bustling market place of a lush green developed village, now there remained nothing at all. Just him, for as far as his eyes could see. He turned around to see the great mountain and his horror only grew as he saw that the Hokage monument was gone as well; the whole mountain leveled to the ground. All that remained was some green residual traces from the explosion that felt alien.

And he finally realized; The Village Hidden in the leaves was no more.

His mind went blank, he fell to his knees, and he screamed and shouted on the top of his voice. He began to cry and beat his fists to the ground; all without realizing what he was doing. Then a question came to his mind  
 _How am I still alive? And unhurt?  
_ He thought and thought and no answer came to his mind.

Then a figure came up behind him and in a strong yet uncaring voice he said, "I bet you're thinking what happened. And for whatever happened, why you're the only one who survived." Naruto slowly turned around and the voice continued, "Well I can give you the answer to the second question, see you have something inside you; I know you know it. That protected you; see that insidious chakra coat is still around you. But I guess that thing was probably just protecting itself since if you died, it would die too" He chuckled as he finished.

Naruto turned around now fully, to see a man with long hair covering one of his eyes, wearing red samurai armor and the other eye that inspired awe in Naruto, widening his eyes; It was a Sharingan, and not like Kakashi sensei's or Sasuke's as he had seen during their mission with Tazuna in the land of waves. No; those Sharingan had tomoe circling around the pupil, but these, they were a totally different shape and far more menacing.

And as Naruto looked closely, he was holding a body in his right arm, the body of a girl, someone around his age.

"Here Naruto" spoke the Sharingan figure again, "I just came to give you this" And he threw the girl's body at Naruto's knees.

"Wh- Whaa-Noo-", muttered Naruto weakly, "S-Sa-Sakura!" He exclaimed finally as he fell over her and began to cry for it was the dead body of a girl he had the biggest of crushes on, even big enough to be called love. But that was all dead now with the girl.

Something suddenly clicked inside him, and his eyes went blank, the orange chakra coat around him suddenly began to swell and form tail like figures and then it exploded into a huge column. The sheer amount of energy oozing out of his explosion seemed to push away the green residual traces of the explosion before.

"Yes! YES!" the Sharingan man exclaimed delight, almost as if he wanted and predicted events to go this way, "I will certainly have more use for you Naruto." Saying that, he sped towards the boy in less than an instant and put his palm to his forehead. Using some strange jutsu, he put a stop to the sheer energy coming out of the boy and then with a chop to his neck, he put him out cold.

He bent down to his unconscious body and spoke into his ear, "You will remember these words; I am Madara Uchiha. Come find me, for I am responsible". With that he stood up and smiled at the clear air he was able to breathe finally thanks to Naruto's chakra blowing all the green traces away, before jumping into the air and disappearing into the distance, leaving the dead body of the girl and an unconscious Naruto behind in the middle of nowhere which was once the place of the greatest village in the world.

* * *

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto was hanging upside down in a place totally devoid of light. He was completely surrounded by  
darkness, but then in a few moments, he realized something.  
 _I'm falling….falling…into darkness._ He thought to himself for he was not hanging at all. _But why? Why am I falling? Where am I falling from? Where am I falling to?_

He tried to open his eyes, they responded only slightly, he rolled his eyes around to see there was nothing, and yet, he could see his own body clearly. This should not have been possible in a dark place. But then again, this was not a place at all in the true sense of the word.

"Where am I?" he spoke to himself weakly.  
"You are within" spoke another heavy voice although Naruto did not expect an answer.  
"Who's there?" Naruto asked perplexed, "What am I within?"  
"I am here. I am within you. And you are within yourself"

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise as he suddenly realized who was talking to him,  
"Kyuubi!"

Suddenly the dark space around him filled with color as it turned into a huge hall. Naruto slowly descended and automatically turned right side up before the floor came into contact. He was now able to fully open his eyes and move properly. He looked around and saw the huge place; the floor was submerged in water about a foot high, the whole place was covered in a strange dark orange color, the walls were laden with strange pipes coming from behind him where the hall continued into darkness, and on the other side the pipes continued behind what seemed like a huge jail door.

Naruto took a few steps towards it but was suddenly pushed back by a huge gust of wind that came from it, and the voice that accompanied it made Naruto's ears ring. It was a roar. And then the origin of the roar came slowly out of darkness into view behind the jail; A huge orange fox with nine tails swirling around at its back.  
"You're the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, in bewilderment with a slight shiver in his voice, "What is this place?"  
"This is ' _Within'_ ; within you" replied the Kyuubi, "This is where I was imprisoned inside you many years ago."  
"How did I get here? I remember that strange man who threw Sakura towards me and then everything went blank."  
"He told you who he was, and he also told you that he was responsible."  
"Yeah, he told me. He was…..Madara Uchiha. He killed Sakura." Naruto began to fill with rage again.  
"Yes there it is, that is what caused you to lose control, back during your fight with the ice kekkei genkai ninja, and now as well. I like that rage." A huge sinister smile appeared across the Kyuubi's face and it sent shivers down Naruto's spine. Somehow Naruto felt it was important to control this rage so he made his best effort, and it subsided.  
"But how can you see or sense my rage?" asked Naruto.  
"I live within you, I am connected to every negative feeling you have within your heart. To tell the truth boy, I hated you ever since I was trapped here. For all these years, all I saw was your stupidity and sorrow not strong enough I could use. But that rage and anger and soon to come hatred, yes I can make great use of that."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You will know soon enough".  
Feeling that he did not want to know what the Kyuubi meant, Naruto decided to ask something else, "Madara Uchiha; is he like Sasuke Uchiha, my team mate?"  
"Madara Uchiha is the most vile of all, Uchiha or not. I have felt his chakra controlling me one too many times"  
"But why would he kill Sakura? She was the kindest person I knew"  
"To see what you would do and you did exactly as he expected, whether consciously or unconsciously, does not matter. Though why exactly he expected you to explode with my chakra; I do not know."

Naruto's thought drifted to his team; Sakura was dead, Sasuke and Kakashi sensei could be too.  
 _But why didn't Madara bring their dead bodies with him too? They must be alive, but where? The village needed them too, and there's no way they would abandon the village. Something must have happened. And the village…._  
"Konoha…." Naruto muttered with a soft melancholy.  
"Is that sadness I sense in your voice boy?" asked Kyuubi with a hint of disgust, "Why would you be sad at the destruction of a place so riddled with scum and filth?!"  
"It was my home!" replied Naruto, tears welling up in his eyes, "I had dreams for the village! I was going to become the Hokage; I spent my days and nights working hard in training to become strong. I've been struggling without any friends or teachers to guide me or help me, to become strong. And I wanted to become strong so that everyone would acknowledge me. I loved this village even though it hated me. I cried but crying never helped so I wanted to become strong so everyone could see how good I was! Twelve years I waited, and I got only three, four people who accepted me as friends! But all that is wasted now, no more village, no people to acknowledge me, no Hokage, no friends; Sakura is dead and Kakashi sensei and Sasuke are missing, and Iruka sensei…Iruka sensei…He's dead too and there isn't even any remains of him! I've lost everything! After trying so hard, for so long to gain something, I've lost it all again!"

Naruto fell to his knees and began sobbing hard, beating his fists into the water submerged ground. The Kyuubi looked at him, and his face filled with absolute disgust as he shouted, "You pathetic human! How dare you cry! How can you! Have you forgotten all those years of loathing the people had for you? You were a mere baby without a home and no one took you in, not even the Hokage. You were sent to an orphanage where the caretakers mistreated you. You grew up alone, without a childhood. You looked at food stalls with hopeful eyes when you were hungry and no one spared you anything. You looked at little toys to play with and store-keepers threw you out. Even the children who did not know the truth about me within you hated you because of what the grown-ups told them. Anywhere you even stood, the people walked away, their backs turned to you. They rejected you till the very end! How can you still care about a place and people like that!"  
"But it wasn't my fault….It's wasnt-", said Naruto, still sobbing.  
"Yes it was not, I saw your whole life; the people hated you because of me that was inside you. I killed their loved ones all those years ago, and they hated you. You were protecting them by keeping me inside and they still hated you, how can you not hate them!"  
"But…. not everyone was bad. There was Iruka sensei, old man Ichiraku and-"  
"I did not see anyone who stood up for you in the village's last moments or all the hard and tough moments of your life, they all got what they deserved."  
Naruto sat there still sobbing and he started to think that maybe the Kyuubi is right. Maybe they really did deserve it. He suddenly shook his head at the thought, stopped sobbing and looked up to the Kyuubi and asked, "What am I supposed to do now?"  
"That is up to you boy, I shall be right here waiting for my moment", said the Kyuubi and turned around to fade into the darkness.  
"Wait, what do you-", Naruto's plea was cut short as the hall around him disappeared and he was surrounded by blackness again.

* * *

Naruto woke up after a few hours, his whole body was aching. He put his hand up to the place Madara had cast his jutsu to stop the chakra explosion and felt there was a slight swelling. He then looked around and saw Sakura's lifeless body lying close by.  
"I better bury her….." he said sighing with sadness. He got up and dug a hole big enough for a twelve year old with his bare hands thinking that he could not waste time looking for a digging tool in this rubble since the body was getting old. He picked her up and gently laid her in there, face up, hands both on her chest and fingers crossed with each other, "There, now you don't have to die. You can just…..sleep."

He got out of the hole and began to put the dirt back again, as he did so he cried a bit. As the last of the hole was covered, he took a twig with a single leaf from nearby and put it as the gravestone, "You're the only leaf here now Sakura-chan", suddenly the leaf broke from the twig and began to ascend into the sky.  
"But there's no wind…?" he asked himself. And the only explanation that came to his mind was that her soul is going away now to find her place, "I guess I have to find my place now too. Thank you Sakura-chan", he muttered softly to the leaf floating away, "I should start by looking for Kakashi sensei and Sasuke".  
Having decided, he turned and started to run in direction he came from in the morning while escaping from the machine, all the while thinking about the Kyuubi's words.

* * *

In the ninja world, tensions between villages was always high as there were always espionage activities being carried out to gain the upper hand against the enemies. The village leaders also always sent spies to other ninja villages to keep themselves aware of their developments. The leaf village was no exception; their spies and ANBU agents were spread throughout the other villages as well and they kept their home leadership of all the situations by keeping in contact with them through various means. Most commonly used were carrier pigeons, other means were chakra connections carried out through various secret jutsu like the infamous Yamanaka clan's techniques. Needless to say when these connections were suddenly cut off, all the spies from the leaf village suddenly got worried beyond comprehension and the best course of action they figured was to go home and see what was wrong. Just as they were about to set out, they received a distress message from someone telling them that the leaf village had been wiped out along with everything in it and Naruto Uzumaki along with his jailed Bijuu were responsible.

Most of these ninja also hated Naruto, and hearing such news from this message and seeing who sent it, they were all outraged. They put all their activities on hold, gathered together in one place and got ready to head out.  
"We're one short."One of the ninja pointed out.  
"Do you mean Jiraiya-sama?" asked another.  
"He goes alone on the most dangerous of spying missions and I'm sure he's received the message too, he'll come", said another.  
"There's one thing bothering me", said an ANBU who was the highest ranked among them," Naruto is too young to have destroyed the village on his own. True he has enough power because of the beast inside him, but I don't think he has the guts or the insight. He's just a spoiled brat"  
"You're right, sir. Does that mean someone else is pulling the strings?" asked the first ninja.  
"I don't doubt it", replied the ANBU, "But we'll figure that out soon enough. For now, let's head back to the leaf village".  
With that, all of the ninja turned and sped away towards the direction of the leaf village.

* * *

After a couple of days' run, Naruto reached the place he and his team fought the huge machine. It was a clearing in the forest but the machine was nowhere in sight.  
"I guess they moved it", he said to himself, "But I don't see any sign of Kakashi sensei or Sasuke either. I should try to look for some clues". Having decided that, he began to look around the area.

"Umm….You won't find anything here", came a voice from behind.  
Naruto turned around and saw it was a young boy about his age, poorly dressed and looked weak. Naruto did not say anything so the boy continued, "There was a fight here a few days ago; a team of ninja were trying to destroy a…..umm….. machine. But they couldn't do anything because…..umm…. some other ninja came and used strange techniques to defeat the team. I saw you too, one of the….umm… other ninja told your masked superior to send you away and you ran away."  
"Sounds like Kakashi sensei and Sasuke", finally spoke Naruto, "Can you tell me what happened to the team?"  
"There was a girl…. They killed her. And the boy and your superior….umm… looked like they were knocked out. They separated them and took them in different directions. They…umm took the boy to my village."  
"Are you absolutely sure they took him to your village".  
"Yes, I know because….umm…I went home ahead of them. They had to bring the machine…..so umm…I got home before them and I ….umm…saw one of them carrying the boy."  
"Great, can you take me there?"  
"Umm…alright but it'll cost you money. My mother is sick and I have to get medicine".  
"Alright, you got a deal", said Naruto after checking his frog purse and making sure he had some ryo from his mission earnings, "Lead the way".  
The boy nodded and went in a direction where trees seemed like they'd been pushed apart to make a road. Naruto figured it was due to the machine.  
"How long is it to your village?" asked Naruto to get an estimate.  
"Umm…..it would take a few hours", replied they boy and Naruto asked nothing else. He decided to stay quiet on the rest of the way to the boy's village, completely against his nature. He was still thinking about what the Kyuubi had said and he just could not shake these thoughts.

* * *

They reached the small village in a few hours just as the boy had said. Upon entering it, Naruto saw how pitiful it was; the streets were littered with garbage, the buildings and homes were made out of the cheapest and weakest material which was barely standing, the people looked extremely weak and many who were homeless were lying on sides of the roads probably infected with diseases.

"Wh-what is all this?!" exclaimed Naruto in horror.  
"This is…..umm…my home village", replied the boy, "You must be surprised. This is umm…..nothing compared to your village. I umm…...know you're from Konohagakure from the umm….your forehead protector".  
"What happened here?"  
"A disease took over our village a few years ago, and….umm…..we were always poor so we couldn't afford any good medicine or…umm…. doctors from other villages. We asked for help from the country's ninja village; it was….umm… Konoha. But the Hokage refused since we umm…..didn't have much to pay"  
"He did?" said Naruto in shock and then thought _Damn Orochimaru, that's not what a Hokage is supposed to be._ "But what about the ninja you said were holding the boy from my team here?"  
"They umm….aren't our ninja, we don't umm…have any ninja. They're just umm…..using some space for something they're doing in secret."  
"And your mom?"  
"She's there", the boy pointed to a sickly old lady lying across the street. Her face was covered in scars and she looked like she was having trouble breathing. She was also holding something, "And what she's ummmm….holding is umm…..umm…..ummm…. my little sister who died yesterday because of the disease and mum won't let her go" Saying the last words seemed so difficult for the boy, and he immediately dropped to his knees and began to cry.

Naruto's heart melted completely. He was already having a hard time swallowing the condition of the village and this really pushed him off the edge. He immediately took out his purse and gave the whole 63,548 ryo to the boy.  
"I don't know if it would help but I do hope so", said Naruto as he gave the boy his money, "Take care of your mother."  
"Thank you ummm…..kindly", said the boy accepting Naruto's gift.  
"Oh and I never told you my name. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and someday I'll become a strong ninja and important ninja", he didn't say Hokage since he knew that was impossible now, "And I promise I'll help out your whole village. So try to hold the village together for me till then. 'Kay", he finished with one of signature wide smiles that inspired hope.  
"I'll….umm….try my best", said the boy weakly. He wasn't too happy.  
 _I guess just words won't help the village. But what else can I do. I did promise to come back and help when I'm stronger. And I will never break my promises. So just hang in there kid.  
_ "So where did the ninja take the boy?" asked Naruto, thinking he should look for Sasuke now.  
The village boy pointed towards a huge building towards the other end of the village. This building was clearly different from rest of the village; it was well built and sturdy. Naruto understood that this could be the only place.  
"Thanks", he waved to the kid and made towards the building slowly using shadows of buildings and the back alleyways, making sure there were no spying eyes of his enemies on him.

* * *

Naruto entered the building through the roof. By opening one of the window panels, he dropped down to a huge stack of cargo that seemed to have something to do with the machine, however the machine itself was nowhere in sight. But Naruto had enough on his plate with looking for Sasuke so he decided to ignore the machine and anything to do with it.

The room he was in was like a huge warehouse and a few lights were on to just barely enable him to see what was where. But the odd thing was that there was no one in sight.  
 _Maybe there's more to this building. I wonder if there's some secret room or something,_ thinking that he got his guard up and started to cautiously look around.

Suddenly the lights all came to life and Naruto found himself surrounded by a lot of ninja, all of whom seemed much more powerful than him. Fighting was not an option and it seemed that escape was unlikey too. He was completely trapped. But how could that have been possible because no one knew of his coming.  
 _Dammit! Did someone see me outside!? I was making sure there were no eyes on me,_ Naruto's thoughts were racing.

"Welcome Naruto", spoke one of them clad in long dark robes, wearing a hood that made his face invisible," You must be thinking how we found you out. Well we'll get to that part but for now, I'm sure this is what you're looking for."  
A strange glob like creature emerged from the floor and took the form of a man who was completely white. He carried a boy on his shoulder.  
"Sasuke!" cried Naruto," Let him go!"  
"It doesn't work that way Naruto", said the man in robes and went over to the white person. Then he did something Naruto could not believe; he merged with the personas though they were one but Naruto still could not see his face, "Now then, I'm sure you can see that we here are no ordinary ninja plus we're strong so you have no chance to win in a fight. But since you came all this way for your comrade, we'll give you a fair chance to save him."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, let's play a game. I'll give you a choice. You can either choose Sasuke or this village. The one you choose will get to live. The other perishes. You do know we have a huge machine, we can destroy the village with one attack."  
"What!" Naruto exclaimed. His heart began to become heavy. They were not asking him to save, they were asking him which he wanted to destroy, and Naruto could not condemn anyone to death. How could he destroy a whole village with people who are so poor, people whom his own village did not help? But how could he not choose Sasuke, the one he considered his first friend, his rival and the only one who maybe understood what Naruto's life had been like?  
"Remember Naruto, Sasuke is your teammate, and your friend. Whats a village of poor people who are gonna die anyway next to a friend?"  
"I-I-uh…..".  
"And also remember Naruto, whoever loses their life because of your choice, it would be because of your decision. So it would be your fault entirely. So will you choose a whole village full of people or one boy, your friend?"  
"Dammit!" Naruto clenched his chest for his heart was aflame with pain.  
"Well this is taking too long. Lets add another rule; You only have one minute to decide, and if you don't both parties will die",  
"Wait! No!" the pain in Naruto's chest became more and it felt like his heart was going to rip out from his body.  
"Ten seconds left Naruto", the man seemed to be enjoying it, "three…..two…..-"  
"Wait-Wait- I choose Sasuke!"  
"See that wasn't too hard, and just in time too".

Naruto fell to his knees, his whole body suddenly felt weak, his head was throbbing, and his heart was still aching. But atleast he had saved his friend, atleast he won't be alone. Atleast that's what he thought when suddenly Sasuke's body emitted strange white smoke and when it cleared, Naruto's eyes widened with fear. He saw it wasn't Sasuke at all. It was the boy he had met earlier, who had brought him to the village. Sasuke's body had transformed into the boy. He was the one lying on the ground, unconscious.  
Naruto felt a little part of him die inside _. What did this mean? Will the village be destroyed now? And what about Sasuke?_ His mind began to race again and no answers came….. 

* * *

To be continued...

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long in updating the story. I actually decided to write a few chapters ahead before uploading any more. Later chapters will come more quickly now, hopefully :P


	3. Chapter 3

A few minutes had passed but for Naruto, time had become still. He could not comprehend what was happening. All the ninja surrounding him still stood in one place, unmoving. While the strange ninja who had played the game of choice with him stood looking at the village boy; he seemed to be waiting for something. Presently, the village boy started to come to. And the strange ninja exclaimed,  
"Finally! I've been waiting. Welcome back boy."

The village boy looked up and saw the ninja, and then he looked around at all the other ones standing in a circle as if they were surrounding something. Then he finally his eyes fell on Naruto and he gasped, "Ninja-sama, you said I wouldn't have to face him again"  
"I lied", he replied flatly, "And you will address me as Zetsu-sama. Everyone is a ninja, but only a very few are as special as I."  
"But you said-"  
"Silence boy! You should expect this to happen when you're in the game of betrayal".  
The boy fell silent and could not say anything more. Zetsu did have a point. Then came another voice,  
"Betrayal?" Naruto spoke finally.  
"Ah, he speaks finally", said Zetsu," That is correct Naruto, this boy here has been playing you from the very start. He brought you here on our orders. I mean didn't you find it odd that a young poor weak village boy just happened to be there at a place where a battle was fought just a couple of days ago? And he just happened to know where your friend was taken and everything?"  
Naruto grunted but couldn't say anything.  
"And you even gave the poor boy all your money. Yes we had our eyes on you from the start. A young poor weak village boy was able to melt your heart, fool you and take all you had earned as a ninja. And instead of stopping there, instead of feeling indebted to you for your sacrifice and promises he still went on to betray you to complete our plan, all for more money. "

Naruto looked at the boy, he was looking down but he then suddenly raised his face and looked directly into Naruto's eyes and said,  
"Yea so what! I needed the money. I asked-we asked his village for help so many times and they ridiculed us and ignored us every time just because they were stronger and richer".

Naruto could not believe what he heard. It was the village leadership who refused to help, not he. He had promised the boy that he would get stronger and come back to help their village and as good faith he gave him all his life's earnings, how could he betray like this. Naruto's heart began to fill with pain again and he felt he was dying inside. This was the second time; first with the game of choice when he lost Sasuke to the enemy's treachery, and now this. How could that boy do all this, and take part in this game where his own village is staked. He felt that two pieces of his heart broke and separated from the whole, to go and drift into darkness of pain.

"Yes, this is how people really are. Do you see Naruto?" asked Zetsu, "They will do anything to get their own goals. That is why Madara-sama's plan must be carried out"  
Naruto didn't say anything, he still could not believe what was going on. So Zetsu decided to continue,  
"Ofcourse we promised the extra money to the boy but we never told him the entire plan. You see he never knew about this little game of ours."  
Naruto and the boy both looked up at Zetsu.  
"Yes, the boy did it all for money but it was for his poor dying family and village. And that is where you came in Naruto. Though don't feel all sad that you got betrayed by the boy, you betrayed him too. You chose Sasuke, albeit fake Sasuke but still him nonetheless, and you chose the boy's village to be destroyed. We put him unconscious and cast the transformation jutsu on him and you fell for it."

Naruto had no words to reply. He looked towards the boy; his mouth was open in shock, his eyes widened out of horror. And Naruto could see that the boy's hatred for the leaf grew many thousand-fold.

Zetsu motioned one of the ninja; he went into another room and came back with a bag. Zetsu took it from him and threw it at the village boy, saying,  
"Here you go; the money, as promised. Though I don't know what you'll be using it for since the killing has already begun out there." He added a snicker at the end.

The boy could not control his emotions any more. He took out a knife from inside his clothes and charged towards Naruto screaming at the top of his lungs," AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH. I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!".  
"No! I- I'm a good person, and I'll be a good Hokage someday", Naruto muttered, his mind confused," I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm a good person."

The boy was right on top of Naruto now. Naruto could not move, he was still in shock. The knife was only a few feet away from him.  
"DIE!" the boy yelled. 

_STAB!_

The boy looked up to see that it wasn't Naruto he had stabbed, it was Zetsu.  
"Well boy, this wasn't a part of the deal." Said Zetsu calmly, "You should have taken the money and run away. Naruto is too important for our plan to allow you to harm him. So we can't have that now, can we? Especially when the plan is working on him".

Zetsu looked towards Naruto who was still sitting right there with his eyes wide in shock and horror. That brought a smile on Zetsu's face as he grabbed the village boy's arm and pushed him away along with the knife stuck in Zetsu's chest. He then looked towards the village boy and still holding the boy's arm twisted it and stuck it right back into the boy's heart. He then stood up and threw the boy down at Naruto's feet.

Naruto finally shifted his gaze and saw the boy mere inches away from him, on the floor. He crawled towards him, held him in his arms and said,  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I never knew it could happen this way. But I didn't lie; I really did want to help your village. I'm sorry. I-I never even asked your name and I got you killed. What kind of Hokage would I be if I can't even save a boy!?" The last line he said more for himself than the boy.  
"It doesn't matter anymore", replied the boy, "I was playing you from the start. I always hated you leaf ninja. Even the way I talked, it was to trap you. I needed the money. The world was cruel to us, so it didn't matter if we had to be cruel to get money. I never thought that the first wrong thing I ever did would get my whole village killed."  
"Don't talk anymore! Maybe I can still save you. If only I can stop this bleed-"  
"No! I….I don't want to be saved. I wish to die, my village is being destroyed. I have nothing left. I don't want to live in this world anymore. I….."

The boy couldn't finish, the light from his eyes had gone as his life silently slipped away from Naruto's hands. Naruto closed the boy's eyes and laid him down as he himself shed a tear that trickled down his cheeks and onto the boy's forehead.  
"I'm sorry", he whispered to the boy.

"Well now this is all very touching but why aren't you triggering!?" said Zetsu who was standing nearby, "I didn't go through all this trouble to wait."  
"…I don't understand", said Naruto.  
"Well if you're not going to explode then maybe inciting some fear in your will have some effect"

Saying that, Zetsu removed his robes to finally reveal his full bizarre body; he was half white and half black, and completely inhuman. He leapt at Naruto and took a hold of his neck, lifting him up into the air.

"Come on, trigger already!" he said to the struggling boy as the grip tightened around his neck, "If you won't, then I won't have any use for you and I'll kill you!"

Naruto's mind began to fill with fear; he never thought he would die this way. He had so much to do, so much to accomplish. So many hopes and dreams. But he would never get to anything now.

Just then, small explosions filled the room as the other ninja began to fall one by one. A confused Zetsu looked around to see what was happening. His grip on Naruto's neck came loose. Suddenly a big strong punch landed on Zetsu's face, he let go of Naruto as he was sent flying towards the wall.

Naruto looked up to see an old man in his fifties, having white long hair wearing some traditional clothes forming a strange stance to guard him.

"Enter the great toad Sage you little scum!" he said, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto who looked confused. Figuring that greetings and explanations could take a lot of time, he picked up the boy and jumped away through the glass panels of the roof before Zetsu could recover.

The other ninja started to get up and give chase but Zetsu ordered them to stop,"Don't bother. I just lost myself there for a little bit, we aren't supposed to harm the boy physically. Let them escape. We shall move on to the next phase of the plan. Besides, fighting Jiraiya will cause a lot of damages here. We can't afford that."

* * *

Jiraiya carried Naruto through the burning village to its other corner, avoiding any enemy forces laying waste to the poor village. He saw them killing poor innocent people, and he saw many of the villagers flee the village but he could not do anything to help them. He had a job to protect this boy and exposing them could be harmful not only for them two, but to the whole ninja world. Even with his skill, he could not help the people. So he got out of the burning village and prepared to head for Konoha. He needed to discuss a lot of things with the boy. He thought he didn't have to so soon but circumstances had forced him now to tell him everything.

"Wait!" yelled Naruto before Jiraiya could exit into the forest," Put me down I…I…."

Somehow Jiraiya couldn't argue with the boy. He obeyed and put him down. The two of them were on a small hill; just a few feet higher than the plain level. He saw Naruto take a few steps towards the burning village and then lose his strength to fall to his knees. He saw pain on the boy's face the likes of which he had never seen before.

"It was…..it was my fault." said Naruto slowly," I promised to help the village, and…. I destroyed it…I-"  
Jiraiya came close to the boy and put his hand on his shoulder causing Naruto to turn around hug the Sage and started to cry. Jiraiya could feel the warmth of his tears on his chest. The boy was really in pain. He did not know exactly what had transpired in the village or the warehouse but he knew that this boy who felt so much pain for the people of an unknown village could not have been the one at wrong. So he hugged him back.  
"No Naruto," said the Sage softly to the boy," It was them and them only. Don't you think for one minute that you were responsible. I have seen people doing wrong to others, they never feel any pain. But you, you're sitting here crying your eyes out for people you probably didn't even know. You feel their pain. You're a good boy Naruto. You see, feeling the pain of others is exactly why we try to be kind to them. That is what makes us…..human."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up to the face of the Sage who was smiling at him. He wiped his tears and stood up. He tried to smile back but couldn't; he still have a lot of pain in his heart. So he just nodded.  
"I'm ready to go now", said Naruto, "But where will we go?"  
"We're going back to the leaf village", replied Jiraiya," There's a lot of things we need to talk about and we need a safe place to do so"  
"There's no point. The village was destroyed by something a few days ago…"  
"I know, but I have a safe house close there which should be untouched. Come on, let's go."

Naruto nodded and the both of them started to walk towards the village.

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a dark room which looked something like the inside of a cave. A few candles were lit on the table close by and there was a man standing close to him. Sasuke couldn't see him properly since it was so dark.

"Ah, finally you're awake, Sasuke", said the mysterious man, "I've been waiting".  
"Who are you?" asked Sasuke.  
"I am your family Sasuke, I am Madara Uchiha."

Hearing the name Uchiha uttered by him and seeing a man from his clan after so long; Sasuke could not believe his eyes.  
"I thought Itachi had killed everyone?" asked Sasuke, confused," How are you still alive?"  
"I have been alive for a long time. Even age could not slow me down. Sure it took some forbidden jutsus and the wonders of science but I assure you, I am alive and well. And as for the part about how I survived the Uchiha massacare…..well, It's a long story."  
"Tell me. If there's a chance that there might be others still alive then I have to know."  
"No. No other Uchiha survived that massacre, but if you wish to know everything then I warn you, there are a lot of things you will hate and it will change the course of your life."  
"…Tell me everything"  
"Very well."

Madara knew he had the boy now. He would prove very useful to his plan. A sinister smile appeared across his face as he began to speak about a long bloody tale. The tale of the Uchiha clan.

* * *

To be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4

Jiraiya decided to take the long way back to the leaf village, allowing the two to stop at various towns along the way. He wanted to assess the situation after the destruction of the leaf village. In every place they stopped at, Jiraiya noticed that tensions were high in the air. There were less people on the streets than before, people were acting guarded, and a lot of shops and homes were boarded up indicating that people did not want to be close to the area that was once the great Leaf Village. Also people seemed afraid. When Jiraiya asked some people about the cause of their fears, they told him that it was because the destruction of the Leaf village had really impacted the life style.  
Since Konoha controlled and maintained peace and safety for almost whole of the Fire nation, its destruction had impacted most on the closest villages. The news of destruction spread fast. Crimes were increasing, and honest living was becoming difficult day by day. While there still were no obvious signs of open bloodshed, according to what people of the villages told the travelling duo a lot of people had lost their lives over different disputes.

Naruto saw and witnessed it all; the descents of the towns into slow chaos. He saw how departure of Konoha left a power void, which every two bit criminal wanted to fill. He began to think that if there's no one strictly enforcing peace, people start going mad with desire for money and power and begin to hurt each other. The Kyuubi inside Naruto filled him with thoughts that just reinforced his own. Every time he wanted to help someone he saw who needed help on the street, the Kyuubi would just fill him with thoughts that helping them now temporarily would be of no use. It would be just like the burning village- some real power would be needed to stop the chaos; kindness and compassion would not be enough.

Naruto's mind and heart would ache every time he saw these towns. He would be filled with questions,  
 _Why do people hurt each other? Can't they live the right way without someone always showing them what to do? Can't they live honestly if no one's there to enforce laws? Why are people like that?  
_ But there were no answers. So after going through a few towns, Naruto decided to ask Jiraiya about all this.  
"Well kiddo," said Jiraiya," People do have a natural tendency for chaos. But they also have that little voice in their heads telling them what's right. People just decide to ignore that voice because the wrong way seems to be easier and it allows them to fulfill their wild desires."  
"But why don't the people want to help each other in times like this?" asked Naruto," Shouldn't they feel more happy and content if they could help each other and be more prosperous together?"  
"You're right," replied Jiraiya impressed at the insight of such a young boy, "It's just that people's wild side enjoys exercising power over others and taking everything from themselves. But I believe that soon, a time will come when people will truly be able to be kind to each other. That's my goal, my dream; to help people realize their potential."  
"Is that why I've never seen you around the village before; because you're out to other towns and villages helping them realize the good in them?"  
"Hahaha, when you put it like that kiddo, you make me feel like I'm some sort of Saint…..But yeah, that's mostly what I'm doing, along with stuff for the Leaf Village."  
"So is that how you found me; going from village to village till you saw that one?" said Naruto, but thinking of the burning village made his heart ache again, though he tried his best to ignore it.  
"No, I was looking for you for a couple of days. I have my jutsus and skills as a high level Sage ninja that help me in tracking and a lot of other neat stuff," replied Jiraiya, clearly sounding impressed with himself, "Though the way I saw you back there kiddo, I think you're not strong enough to deal with stronger ninja. So I've been thinking, while we're on this detour to the village, I wanna teach you some skills to use in fights and also a powerful jutsu."  
"Really! Awesome, I'm totally ready for that!"  
"Great, then we'll start right away. You'll see kid, learn from the great Toad Sage and you'll become stronger in no time. Hahahahah."  
Jiraiya's pride made Naruto roll his eyes. He always made up nickname for these kinds of people, and for Jiraiya, he had just the one,  
"Alright, let's do it, Kashin-Senin"  
"Hey, I'm not overconfident, I just have a lot of faith in my abilities"

Naruto rolled his eyes again but he was really impressed with Jiraiya's ideals. He thought he could learn so much from him and become stronger with his help.

* * *

In the following few days, while continuing to walk through towns and villages with Jiraiya, Naruto learned how to walk on water by further controlling his chakra. He already knew how to walk against gravity on solid objects thanks to Kakashi, now he had even further control. He practiced day and night perfecting it.

Jiraiya also decided to teach Naruto his most favorite jutsu, one that was created by the Fourth Hokage and which took him years to complete; the Rasengan. He showed the boy how focusing and compressing the chakra at the palm of his hand produces a ball of swirling blue lines, which had devastating power when came in contact with any surface.

Naruto was, of course, thrilled to learn such a powerful technique. And the mention of Fourth Hokage having made the jutsu only added fuel to his excitement. He took it on himself to master the technique in days rather than years. That way he could prove how he is qualified to become stronger than all the Hokages.  
"Just you wait Kashin-Senin," he said to Jiraiya," I'll have this down soon enough and then I'll be ready to deal with any enemies"

Jiraiya nodded, and feeling that the boy just might be able to do it, being the keeper of the Kyuubi, the Fourth's son, and one of strong will, he will then tell him everything he wanted to when he set out to find him because then he might be ready for it all. And even if he still is not, he would still have to tell him everything because he cannot afford to delay it all any longer. It all depended on whether Naruto would be able to learn the jutsu or not.

* * *

Almost two weeks had passed since Jiraiya rescued Naruto from Zetsu. Their detour had come to its end and now finally they were near where the leaf village had once been. The whole time on their detour, Naruto had thought about his friend Sasuke and his sensei Kakashi and wondered where they might be and that if they were alright or not. He had not guessed that the detour would take this long, otherwise he might have ditched the Kashin-Senin and gone on his own again to search. But then again, he had no idea where to go look and Jiraiya had offered to train him so maybe it was the right thing to stay with the Sage.

The same day, they reached the outer boundary of the Leaf village and Naruto still had not mastered the Rasengan, despite working day and night but that became the last thought on their minds when, standing at the edge of the tree-line, they saw that some reconstruction had begun in the devastated area; men and women labored to carry logs and cement and other construction material, some of them looked to be in charge of supplying food and water, some were tending to anyone who got hurt while working. Camps were set up for each purpose.

"How are there leaf ninja there?" asked Naruto, "I thought everyone died when the village was destroyed."  
"They're the ones who were sent to other countries on Espionage and spying missions," replied Jiraiya, "They probably came back when they were cut off from the village. I sensed that the connection with the village was severed too, but I wanted to look for you first instead of coming to the village."  
"How did you know that I wasn't here"?  
"We'll talk about that soon. Look-"

Naruto looked and noticed that many of the people working were not from the leaf, not even ninja. His sights suddenly fell on familiar faces and he said with joy,  
"Kashin-Senin, look, its Tazuna and people from their village! They're expert builders; they'll have the village back on its feet in no time!"  
"Really?" stated Jiraiya, "Well I wonder where the village would get the money to pay for all this, or are they thinking of getting a loan or debt or something."  
"No no, those builders are friends; they'd do it for free. I'm sure. I wonder if Inari's with them too…."  
Naruto was ready to run off to them and give them a hug when Jiraiya put his hand on the boy's shoulder, held him back and said,  
"Wait, look."

Naruto saw Tazuna approach one of the leaf ninja and say something to him. Then suddenly, instead of replying to the builder, the ninja punched him hard, causing him to fall on his back. Naruto's eyes widened.  
 _Why would he punch him like that? Aren't the builders helping them, then why?_

The ninja walked over to the fallen old man and kicked him. Then kicked him again. People from the Waves village started to surround them and beg the ninja to let it go. But the ninja pulled his hands back and started weaving hand-signs for a jutsu.

"I can't take it anymore!" said Naruto, and pulling both his hands' index and middle fingers into a plus shape, he yelled, "Shadow Clone jutsu!"

Hundreds of solid clones of Naruto appeared and bridged the gap between him and the dispute. They came between Tazuna and the ninja and some of them held the ninja down before he could cast his jutsu.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Tazuna, "My boy! You're finally here".  
"Sorry I'm late old man." said the original Naruto as he ran up to the old man, helping him up.  
"What's going on Naruto? We came to help your village as soon as we heard what had happened but when he got here a few days ago and asked about you, the ninjas here took us into custody and forced us to work like this. We've been working for days now, and we can't go home, we don't get much to eat or a place to rest. Worst of all, whenever we ask about you the ninja here start treating us even more badly. We just wanted to help you out. I never thought the leaf village could fall to such a low level, and Inari….they already beat the kid up so much for asking after you again and again that he….he's in a coma, lying in one of the tents."

All of Naruto's clones began to fill with rage on hearing Tazuna's account and mention of Inari's state really hit a nerve. He wanted to beat up the ninja but he tried extremely hard to control his anger.  
Presently, other leaf ninja started to gather around as well. They kicked Naruto's clones off the downed ninja and picked him up, and everyone got into stance to fight.

"Well, well, well," spoke one of the high ranking ones among them," I knew you were overconfident, but I never thought you would have the nerve to waltz right back here after what you did."  
"I didn't do anything wrong," replied Naruto, "You're the ones hurting the people who came here to help."  
"And lying on top of it? Give it a rest boy, everyone here knows you're the one who destroyed the leaf village! That is why no ninja here will ever bear to hear your name!"

Naruto's eyes widened; he could not believe what he was hearing. He had always loved the village, even after all the people had done to him. He could never think of harming it, he wanted to be Hokage of the village and lead it to prosperity. He had tried to save it till its last moments.

"How can you say that!" yelled Naruto back at the ninja, "I always loved my village! I tried to save it!"  
"Enough with the lies!" the ninja snapped back at him, "Everyone in the village hated you. It's impossible for anyone to not want to destroy in such a case. That monster inside you probably helped you do it. And now we're going to make sure we have our revenge for decimating our village and destroying everything we ever had."

Naruto began to have the dreadful feeling again; the feeling of his heart sinking. He had been feeling it a lot these past days. His heart felt like it was breaking. He always knew the people did not like him. But he never thought that they would blame him for something so diabolical, especially when he tried so hard to save the village. His eyes began to fill with tears. His clones began to dissipate because of jumbled emotions.

"No!" pleaded Naruto, "I….I would never do such a thing!"  
"Enough!" replied the ninja, "ANBU units, get into formation. Attack the boy at will! Leave him only inches from death! Then we'll find out who his accomplices are."

The ninja left everything they were doing and each of them began to weave their own hand signs to attack with their most deadly jutsu. But before they could do anything, a loud voice came,

"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"  
The ground under the ANBU turned to a pool of mud and they began to sink into it, causing their jutsu casting to be interrupted and their attack to be delayed. They looked behind Naruto and their eyes widened to see the most senior spy of their village was standing.

"Jiraiya-sama!" said the ANBU leader with surprise, "What are you doing!? This is your jutsu isn't it? Release us. We have to get that boy!"  
"Not on my watch you're not," replied Jiraiya, "This boy is under my protection, and no one touches him while I am breathing!"  
"But you're supposed to be Lord Orochimaru's team mate and best friend and the village's best spy! How can you side with someone who destroyed the village"!?  
"Because this boy isn't the one who destroyed the village"

Everyone's eyes widened at Jiraiya's proclamation. And Naruto's eyes retained a bit of hope as a small smile appeared on his face-he might just not be alone yet.

"Lord Orochimaru told everyone that the brat was the one who did It." said the ANBU, "He said that he was here when it happened and he barely escaped".  
"He was lying." replied Jiraiya, "I've been away all this time doing research and I know he tricked the village and became Hokage and he's been deceiving everyone ever since. He overthrew old man the third using politics and killed him. And you all have been seeing what kind of Hokage he has been. He has been kidnapping people who won't be missed and doing experiments, he's been keeping ties with enemies to feed his own ends. All this time, he never cared for the village".  
"You're the one who's lying Jiraiya-sama. We would never go against our Hokage."  
"You mean the Hokage who left you all in the time of most need? The Hokage who never cared for the people in all of his 5 years of rule? Come to your senses. The destruction of the village was not done by Naruto. It was orchestrated by someone else wielding great power and Orochimaru helped them do it! If I'm wrong, then prove me wrong; show me where Orochimaru is, how he is helping the village?!"  
"What is all this noise?" came a voice from behind the tents," We can't really focus on planning the relief operations with all this fuss…."

Jiraiya and Naruto both looked up to see the figure who spoke these words, and they were shocked to see the tall man whom Jiraiya was just speaking about. But even more shocking was that there was someone else behind him-a woman. She was looking down as she walked with Orochimaru to the place of the dispute.

"Tsu-Tsunade!?" said Jiraiya shocked, "What are you doing here with Orochimaru!?"

The woman kept silent and spoke nothing as she kept looking towards the ground, refusing to even raise her gaze. 

* * *

To be continued...


End file.
